


It Will Get Easier

by Yasuo_Karada



Category: DRAMAtical Murder (Visual Novel), DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, Hickies, Implied Sexual Content, Inferiority, M/M, Post-Canon, Weight Lifting, power bottom aoba, reassurance, working out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 16:26:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8998213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yasuo_Karada/pseuds/Yasuo_Karada
Summary: “I'm not weak anymore, Ren,” Aoba hushed as his hand dropped from Ren's face. “Am I?”Ren scrambled for Aoba's hand to place it back against his cheek, his fingers curling around Aoba's palm. “No.”





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [softvanillavoca](https://archiveofourown.org/users/softvanillavoca/gifts).



> It's been a while! This was a fic that vocaotome had commissioned me with the prompt of post-drama cd RenAo where Aoba is a little more aggressive. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> I am still taking commissions! Please check out this post for information:
> 
> http://yasuo-karada.tumblr.com/post/153668857022/hello-and-happy-almost-end-of-the-year-ill-be

“...and I just don't understand what the point of the ending was, like was it all a dream or was it real or– oye, _watch_ it,” Aoba grunted as a passerby plowed right past him, shoving into his shoulder. He glared back at the asswipe from over his shoulder before he scoffed and continued with, “ _anyway_ , it was just weird all around.”

“Ah,” Ren hummed in response, glancing back for just a quick moment.

He turned his attention back to Aoba as they walked along the sidewalk, and his focus honed in on the bandage left on his cheekbone.

Aoba's injuries were healing nicely after the incident with Takumi a couple weeks back, though he still walked with a slight limp sometimes after walking long distances and with the way his cheek was split open it would likely scar. Still, Aoba was lucky to get out of that situation with otherwise mostly bruises that had faded to a faint yellow by this time, something Ren was eternally grateful for.

But something changed in Aoba. He became a lot more on-edge, especially around strangers, and he didn't seem to react as favorably as he did before whenever Ren would offer to do something for him. At first, he assumed it was a case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from the abuse he received; he wasn't entirely wrong, as Aoba had talked to him some time after the fact about how something like that was why he was so antsy and quick to upset.

More than the stress of emotionally recovering, however, Aoba confessed that he felt his pride as a man had been compromised from needing to be saved (actually, his exact words were closer to, “I don't _want_ to feel like some damsel in distress, I don't need to be saved all the time.”).

For the first few days after the incident and his sudden confidence boost in bed that immediately followed, all Aoba could do was sulk around the house, wracked with guilt for needing Ren to break him out of that bind and dragging Koujaku and the rest of Benishigure into that whole fiasco. It seemed like he wasn't going to be getting out of that depressive state, no matter what Ren or Tae did to try and console him.

Then, out of nowhere, Aoba started looking at gym memberships.

Ren was confused at first; Aoba wasn't overweight or out of shape in any sense of the word. His job at Heibon kept him on his feet a lot and their, erm... _antics_ surely made sure he active enough to at least maintain his form.

Just what was this all about?

 

* * *

 

“We're home!” Aoba called once he opened the front door.

Tae's voice rang from the kitchen amidst the clatter of dishes and bubbling of oil in response, informing them that dinner would be ready soon and that they should clean themselves up. Aoba's gym bag was left unceremoniously tossed beside their shoes in the genkan (Ren scrambled to swoop it up and set both Aoba's bag and his own properly into the nearby closet) before he dashed up the stairs, skipping every other step.

A heavier pair of footsteps were quick to follow, tailing close behind him as they approached their bedroom. Aoba threw his arms above his head to stretch the muscles in his back. “ _Man_ , today's workout was intense. I'm starving.”

Ren huffed out a chuckle as he shut the door behind them. “Try not to overdo it next time, though. You almost dropped the dumbbell.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Aoba waved in indignation before be began to undress.

He happened to look over as he pulled his shirt over his head, catching Ren tugging off his own clothes in the corner of his sight. He wasn't sure if it was the sweat glistening off of his back that made him freeze in place and heart pound against his rib cage or if it was the muscles rippling just underneath the skin as he tossed his shirt into the hamper, just that much more exposed as his briefs were pulled down from snagging on the shorts being removed. He could blame it on the post-workout rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins if he wanted, how it prompted his groin to stir in his own pants as he blatantly ogled the other man undressing next to him.

Fuck, he wanted Ren. Wanted to take this giant of a man and make him succumb, make him _submit_ , to someone half his size. He wanted to bring Ren to his knees, and he felt like he had the power to do it.

But all he _could_ do, in the end, was watch as Ren grabbed a change of clothes and offer the bath first, which Aoba declined once he snapped out of his distracted mindset. He was left alone in their bedroom after Ren left, and for a moment he just stood there in silence as he tried to regain composure and will his desire away – for the time being.

The thought picked at the back of his brain even while he took a cold shower, and it took every ounce of self-control not to let his hands wander from the tiled wall and down to between his legs. He's noticeably flushed in the face at the table some time after, which he was quick to blame on the shower being hot (he knew it wasn't). Ren's concerned gazes were ignored as they ate; Aoba's food was gone in record speed, though whether it was from nerves or the aftermath of exercise was hard for him to say.

Ren found him in their room a few hours later, after he had practically scurried out the front door to take a walk after dinner to "do some thinking." He was standing there in front of their full-length mirror wearing nothing but his boxer briefs, hands slowly traveling all over his own body; fingers followed the flow of muscles below the surface of skin from his pectorals down to his hips and toned stomach, then back up to his biceps. From the doorway, Ren could see more bruises along Aoba's back fading, and his gaze focused along his spine down to his thighs.

He had never seen Aoba act so...fascinated with his own body. It was almost worrisome.

“Aoba,” Ren called to him softly, the only confirmation that Aoba heard him was his glance to stare back at him through the mirror briefly before returning to his reflection. Sighing, Ren stepped fully into the room before he shut the door behind him.

He began to undress for bed, tearing his shirt over his head and kicking his pants off before gathering them up and folding them to set them aside on top of the dresser. This habit of sleeping skin-to-skin came about gradually at some point in their relationship; they found there was comfort in the warmth and softness of another body with nothing to block the sensation. He had just turned around to ask if Aoba wanted to join him when he felt the wind get knocked out of his lungs.

Aoba's body crashed into Ren's, barreling them both over and onto their shared bed where they landed with a grunt upon impact. Ren opened his eyes to find Aoba's staring down at him, fixed onto his face with an expression he wanted to say was pensive. The other man's body loomed over his, both hands on either side of his head to prop him up. Long, blue locks cascaded like a waterfall over his shoulders and down to Ren's chest.

“Touch me,” Aoba murmured, almost like a whisper he had no intention of Ren hearing. He led one of Ren's hands to cup a large palm on his cheek, slowly guiding it down the side of his neck, then down to his bare chest. “Do you feel anything different?”

The toned muscles just under the skin felt firm, moreso than the last time they embraced; Ren didn't dare pretend not to notice how his chest seemed broader, either. He couldn't take his eyes away from what was presented so openly before him, taking in all of the slight changes from the body he was so intimately familiar with before.

“Do you feel how my body's changed?” Their hands trailed to the subtle abs on his stomach. “How I've gotten stronger?”

Aoba shifted to rest his weight on Ren's hips, straddling him while his other hand curled around his jaw. They stared at each other like that – Ren's gaze awestruck, Aoba's determined. For a while, they couldn't do anything but.

“I'm not weak anymore, Ren,” Aoba hushed as his hand dropped from Ren's face. “Am I?”

Ren scrambled for Aoba's hand to place it back against his cheek, his fingers curling around Aoba's palm. “No.”

The hand on Aoba's body broke free from his grasp to return the gesture in kind, gently brushing long blue tendrils out of Aoba's face before cupping his own cheek.

“You were never weak, Aoba.” There was a shaky gasp from Aoba's parted lips, and Ren watched his eyes widen as his breath caught in his chest. His other hand left Aoba's to reach up and caress his bangs with his fingers. He hesitated for a second, aware of how close he was to Aoba's bandage. “Does it still hurt?”

Aoba only shook his head. A slight shift in position ground their crotches together through the fabric of their briefs, and Aoba shivered at the contact before he moved again, leaning down and tilting his head to fit their mouths together. Strong hands moved against his body to wrap around him, pulled him down closer until they were flush together.

Their bodies rolled together slowly, tenderly, eyes closing and mouths moving in unison and letting the mood set the pace; he could feel in this moment of quiet intimacy that Aoba was desperately searching for something, not sexual but...

Ren broke away gulping for air, only getting one or two breaths to fill his lungs before Aoba was on him again. He nipped and licked at Ren's mouth with a new kind of hunger Ren was not acquainted with. “A-Ah...Ao-...Aoba...”

“Shh,” Aoba growled back, grinding down his hips for good measure before devouring Ren's lips, teeth and tongues and hot breath shared between them. There was pressure tightening in his lower belly that sent pleasure tingling through the nerves in his legs, and it wasn't long before he was moving along with the other.

After a moment, though, he came to his senses. “W-...Wait, stop, Aoba.”

A frustrated snarl huffed against the tip of his nose and Ren opened his eyes to meet a heated, lusty pair of hazel eyes glaring back at him. Aoba was never this impatient or forward, even when he was desperate and begging.

“What's gotten into you lately?”

It took a moment for him to respond. Rather, it seemed like he was struggling to _find_ a response. His mouth opened and closed more times than he could count, and ultimately he just pursed his lips together.

“Ren.” Finally, with his tongue poking out to swipe over his lips. “I want you.”

Well, _that_ certainly caught Ren off-guard. He blinked incredulously as Aoba's words processed in his mind. When he didn't say anything, Aoba continued, “I want to feel you, around me, all over me. But at the same time, I want to be in control of the situation. I...need to know I _can_ be.”

Aoba lowered his head, pressing his face into the crook of Ren's neck and inhaling his scent, still fresh and clean from the shower earlier. “I don't want to feel so helpless.”

And then, it all clicked.

The initial depression. Suddenly working out. The way Aoba flinched when a stranger got too close. This, too, this random act of passion. It all made sense. He should have seen it coming when they talked about his anxieties before but this...

A hand rested itself on the back of Aoba's head, running his fingers through his hair. He seemed to relax in Ren's grasp then, even nuzzling into the side of his neck. “Would you like to top this time?”

Lips vibrated in a sputter against his skin. Ren hummed in confusion before Aoba lightly nipped at the corner of his jaw. “Not...necessarily.”

His words were made clear some odd minutes later, when he was sat on Ren's lap holding his wrists down onto the mattress and rolling his hips down in a fluid, controlled motion so as not to make too much noise. Every time Ren would try to thrust along with him, Aoba would stop, would caress Ren's cheek or brush his hair aside and hush softly, would whisper, “Look at me. Don't do anything but look at me.”

It was a strange sensation, to be able to do nothing but lay there and watch the way their bodies fit together so seamlessly despite only one of them doing any work. His eyes followed a bead of sweat that pooled on Aoba's brow, somehow getting lost in the intensity of his rainbow-hazel eyes boring into his very soul. They were gorgeous, how focused and full of fire they were. It was a sight he had never seen before, and he quickly found that he absolutely loved it.

The experience was beautiful in its own right from Aoba's view, too; his eyes flickered to Ren's hands every time he saw them clench into fists out of pleasure, or to his face when his eyes shut or he clenched his teeth when Aoba squeezed down just right. Ren would bite his lower lip when he swiveled his hips in an attempt to stifle his moan, and _God_ , he wished they didn't have to stay quiet so he could just let it all out, they both could. He could take this at his own pace, any pace he so desired, and Ren could only go along with it.

This new sense of empowerment ignited something in the confines of his rib cage, and he threw all rational thought out the window to get swept away by the wind as he leaned down and latched his lips to the skin beside his jugular, sucking harshly with the occasional nibble of his teeth set in time to his body moving up and down on Ren's cock. It would show, he _knew_ it would, but in that moment he couldn't care less.

Ren was his. The thought excited him, and he couldn't help but leave another just below it. Again. Then again.

 

* * *

 

“Okay, I'm going to try to one-hand these ten-kilos.” Aoba swung his arms in circles to limber up. Ren, meanwhile, had his torso curved to the side and his weight supported on one leg to stretch his sides. Neither of them paid much mind to the other people working out in the gym, any lingering gazes likely honing in on the dark marks left on Ren's neck from their activities two nights prior.

“Just be careful you don't pull something. Make sure you take the proper stance and to stop when--”

“Yeah, I know. I learned that the first time,” Aoba huffed, his arms growing slack before he bounced on the balls of his feet to pump himself up. One, then two deep breaths.

His knees bent down to the two hand weights laid out in front of him. His hands gripped the necks of the weights securely before he stood upright, taking care to ensure he lifted with his knees and kept his back straight. Ren observed as Aoba stood there with his arms straight, holding the weights while he inhaled and exhaled steadily.

Then, his began his reps.

His arms were not as shaky as they had been in the past, a fact that Ren noticed with delight. He paused his own stretching to pay full attention, ready to spot if necessary. It was when he was at the seventh rep that he began to show signs of fatigue, a far cry from his previous attempts at the ten kilogram weights.

“Nine...” Aoba's voice was strained. His arms almost gave out completely, and Ren took a few steps forward before Aoba shook his head, muttering out a tired, “I got it, I got it.”

Small beads of sweat stuck his hair to his forehead and the sides of his face, his chest heaved, man were these weights heavy or was he just always this out of shape? The muscles in his arms absolutely burned and he could hardly feel his fingers from how tightly they were holding onto the weights. But he was...soooo... _close_...!!

“Ten!” Aoba gasped out and it took whatever strength he had left (and Ren's assistance, naturally) to keep himself from dropping the equipment like, well, like dead weights.

“You did great, Aoba.” Ren grinned as he returned the weights to the others on the rack. “I think that's the first time you completed a set with ten kilograms.”

“Yeah, it feels like it, holy _shit_ ,” he groaned in response, shaking his hands to get the blood flow going and feeling back in his fingertips.

“It will get easier,” Ren reassured. When he turned to look back at Aoba, he couldn't help but notice how his biceps seemed more refined, how as a whole he seemed less scrawny than before. His grin only grew with the pride and confidence of Aoba's growth swelling in his chest. “Just keep it up.”

Aoba looked back at him and smiled once his breathing was back under control. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and took a quick swig of water from his water bottle. Rehydrated and a bit rested, he swung his arms once again.

“Alright. Time for set two.”

**Author's Note:**

> tl;dr aoba wants to get swole
> 
> 10 kgs is roughly 22 pounds so uh those weights are kind of heavy  
> get it aobara


End file.
